Water heater inlet tube



1961 w. E. JOHNSTON, JR 2,970,610

WATER HEATER INLET TUBE Filed May 2, 1955 5r H/a HTTOIE/VEVJ E m/a, (may, Fos mi & Helm/a substantial distance.

United States Patent-O WATER HEATER INLET TUBE William E. Johnston, Jr., Santa Barbara, Calif., assignor, by mesne assignments, to The Borden Company, New York, N.Y., a corporation of New Jersey Filed May 2, 1955, Ser. No. 505,230

4 Claims. (Cl. 137-592) The present invention relates to a cold water inlet tube for hot water heaters and, more particularly, to an improved device of this character.

The usual household hot water heater includes an upright, cylindrical tank provided at its upper end with a cold water inlet fitting and a hot water outlet fitting. In order to convey the cold water entering the tank downwardly into the lower regions of the tank as hot water is drawn off from the upper end of the tank, the cold water inlet fitting communicates with a cold water inlet tube which extends downwardly into thetank 21 Usually, the cold water inlet tube is merely suspended from the cold water inlet fitting and dips downwardly into the tank, the inlet tube commonly being referred to as a dip tube for this reason.

In one prior dip tube construction, the dip' tube comprises a length of semirigid tubing of a plastic material,

such as unplasticized polyvinyl chloride. A metal ring is inserted into one end of the plastic tubing to distort the tubing outwardly, thereby forming an external annular bead adapted to seat on the cold water inlet fitting, either on the upper end thereof, or on a suitable annular shoulder therein, to suspend the tubing within the tank of the hot water heater. It is necessary to insert the ring into the plastic tubing a substantial distance to prevent its being dislodged. Consequently, when the dip tube is in place, the upper end of the plastic tubing projects upwardly above the cold water inlet fitting a substantial hot water heater if another hot water heater is stacked thereon. Once one of these dip tubes is forced into the tank of a hot water heater, either bystacking another hot water heater thereon, or in any other manner, it cannot be removed, which is obviously undesirable. An-

. other disadvantage of the foregoing, prior construction is that the projecting portion of the plastic tubing makes it difficult to connect a coupling to the cold water inlet fitting of the hot water heater, the projecting portion of the plastic tubing frequently interfering with the application of the coupling to the inlet fitting.

In view of the foregoing, an important object of the present invention is to provide a dip tube which cannot readily be forced into the tank of a hot water heater when suspended from the cold water inlet fitting so that the heaters can be stacked readily, and which will not interfere with the application of a coupling to the inlet fitting.

More particularly, an important object of the invention is to provide a dip tube of a construction such that the upper end of the tubing of the dip tube does ,not project above the cold water inlet fitting appreciably ICC when it is in place. Consequently, hot water heaters equipped with dip tubes of the invention may be stacked readily without any danger of forcing the dip tubes into the tanks of the heaters, and couplings may be applied to the cold water inlet fittings readily without interference by the dip tubes, which are important features of the invention.

Another object of the invention is to provide a dip tube which comprises a tubing having at one end thereof means providing an external flange which is adapted to seat on the cold water inlet fitting to support the dip tube, and which is substantially flush with the upper end of the tubing so as to prevent the upper end of the tubing from projecting above the inlet fitting.

Another object is to provide a dip tube which includes a length of tubing having at the upper end thereof a metal ferrule provided with an outwardly extending, annular flange substantially flush with the upper end of the tubing.

Another object is to provide a dip tube wherein the ferrule is provided with integral prongs inserted through the tubing and clinched to secure the ferrule to the tubing.

Another object is to provide a dip tube wherein the ferrule is telescoped over the outside of or into the inside of the tubing, and wherein the integral prongs mentioned extend through the tubing into the interior or exterior thereof and are clinched to secure the ferrule to the tubing. 1

The foregoing objects, advantages and features of the present invention, together with various other objects, advantages and features thereof which will become apparent, may be attained with the exemplary embodiment of the invention which is illustrated in the accompany- 7 ing drawing and which is described in detail hereinafter. Referring to the drawing: 7

Fig. l is an elevational view of a conventional hot water heater having incorporated therein a dip tube which embodies the present invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged, fragmentary plan view taken as indicated by the arrow 2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view taken along the arrowed line 33 of Fig. 2 and Fig. 4 is a transverse sectional view through the dip tube of the invention and taken along the arrowed line 4-4 of Fig. 3 of the drawing.

Thenumeral 10 in Fig. 1 of the drawing designates a conventional hot water heater having an upright, cylindrical tank 12 which is provided at its upper end with a cold water inlet fitting 14 and a hot water outlet fitting 16. As shown in Fig. 3 of the drawing, the inlet fitting 14 may be a simple, externally threaded nipple adapted to have threaded thereonto a coupling, not shown, for connecting the inlet fitting to a cold Water line.

Suspended from the inlet fitting 14' and extending downwardly into the tank 12 to convey cold water entering the tank downwardly into the lower regions thereof is a dip tube 18 of the invention. The dip tube 18 includes a length of tubing 20 having an :antisiphon opening 22 therein, the tubing 20 preferably being formed of a suitable, semi-rigid plastic material, such as unplasticized polyvinyl chloride.

Telescoped over the upper end of the tubing 20 in the particular embodiment illustrated is the body of'a ferrule 24, preferably of metal. This ferrule is provided at its upper end with an annular flange 26 which extends outwardly beyond the body of the ferrule and which is adapted to seat on the inlet fitting 14 to suspend the dip tube within the tank 12. The flange 26 may seat on the upper end of the inlet fitting. 14, as shown. The upper end of the tubing 20 is substantially flush with the flange 26 so that it does not project thereabove any substantial distance and, if desired, the upper end of the tubing 20 may be spaced below the flange 26. In either event, the tubing 20 projects above the upper end of the inlet fitting 14 only slightly, if at all. -The ferrule 24 is shown as secured to-the tubing'20 by means of integral prongs 28 which. are integral with the body of the ferrule and which are forced through the tubinginto the-interior thereof and'clinched at 30 to connectthe' ferrule to the tubing securely. The clinched portions 30 of the prongs 28 are embedded in the tubing 20 by ironing them into the plastic material of the tubing with heat and pressure.

It will be apparent that, with the foregoing construction, the dip tube 18 cannot be forced downwardly into the tank 12 easily. In fact, ,it is virtually impossible to force the dip tube 18 downwardly into the tank 'accidentally. Consequently, water heaters equipped with dip 'tubes'lS of the invention may be stacked on top of each other for storage or shipment without any danger of forcing the dip tubes into the tanks 12 of the heaters. Also, since the dip tube 18 does not project above the upper end of the inlet fitting 14 any appreciable distance, it in no way interferes with'connecting a coupling, not shown, to the inlet fitting in connecting the latter to a cold water line.

Although an exemplary embodiment of the present invention has been disclosed herein for purposes of illustration, it will be understood that various changes, modifications and substitutions may be incorporated in the embodiment disclosed without departing from the spirit of the invention as defined by the patent claims hereinafter appearing.

I claim as my invention:

1. A cold water inlet tube for a hot water heater, in-

eluding: a rigid plastic tubing; and a ferrule having a body'telescopically connected to one end of said tubing and having an outwardly extending, annular flange adapted to seat on a cold water inlet fitting of the water heater to suspend said tubing within the water heater, the outside diameter of said fiange exceeding the maximum .outside diameter of said ferrule body, and said ferrule body being provided with integral prongs which extend through said tubing and which are clinched to secure said ferrule to said tubing, said annular flange being at the upper end of said ferrule body when said annular flange is seated on the cold water inlet fitting of the water heater, said end of said tubing ,being' located between the ends of said ferrule sothat said tubing does not project above said annular flange when said annular flange is seated on the coldwater inlet fitting of the Water heater.

2. A cold Water inlet tube for a hot water heater, in-

cluding: a rigid plastic tubing having constant inside and and having an inside diameter slightly greater than the outside diameter of said tubing, said ferrule having an outwardly extending, annular flange adapted to seat on a coldwater inlet fitting of the water heater to suspend said tubing within the water heater, the outside diameter of said flange exceeding the maximum outside diameter of said ferrule body, and said ferrule body being provided with integral prongs which extend through said tubing and which are clinched to secure said ferrule to said tubing, said annular flange being located at the upper end of said ferrule body when said annular flange is seated on the cold water inlet fitting of the water heater, said end of said tubing being located between the ends of said ferruleso'that said tubing does not project above said annular flange when said annular flange is seated on the cold Water inlet fitting of the water heater.

3. In combination: an upright, cylindrical hot water heater provided at its upperend with vertical cold water inlet and hot water outlet fittings, said cold water inlet fitting providing an annular seat; a rigid plastic tubing extending downwardly through said cold water inlet fitting into said water heater; and a ferrule having a body telescopically connected to the upper end of said tubing.

and having at its upper end an outwardly extending, annular flange seated on said annular seat on said cold water inlet fitting to suspend said-tubing within said water heater, the outside diameter'of said flange exceeding the maximum outside diameter of said ferrule body, the upperv end of said tubing being between the ends of said ferrule so that said tubing does not project above said annular flange, whereby an object may be stacked on said water heater without forcing said tubing down wardly into said water heater.

4. A combination as set forth in claim 3 wherein said ferrule body is provided with integral prongs which extend through said tubing and which are clinched to secure said tubing to said ferrule.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,098,775 (Wheelock June 2, 1914 1,171,551 Stephens Feb. 15, 1916 1,178,150 Guett Apr. 4, 1916 1,230,854 Breuer June 26, 1917 1,236,026 WheelOCk Aug. 7, 1917 1,872,540 White -a Aug. 16, 1932 1,892,382 Carlstedt Dec. 27, 1932 1,987,366 Ford Jan. 8, 1935 2,069,141 Furlong Jan. 26, 1937 2,142,752 Howard ian. 3, 1939 2,142,768' Tompkins Jan. 3, .1939 2,233,471 Clements Mar. 4, 1941 2,424,441 Edmunds July 22, 1947 2,498,752 Copeland Feb..28, 1950 2,700,577 Oace- Jan. 25, 1955 r 2,798,745 Nelson p July 9, 1957 v FOREIGN PATENTS 21,536 1935 Australia Nov. 14, 

